A bunch of useless crap
Published on December 22, 2012 By MasonM In Gadgets & Electronics

I now have a 64GB Surface Tablet. Yeah, I know, everyone knows that I am primarily a Linux user, but guess what? There aren't any true Linux tablets out there.

I have an iPad (1st gen), had a 10" Android tablet until I broke it, a Nexus 7 Android tablet, and an Android phone (Galaxy S3), and I like them all well enough, but until now a tablet was, to me, just a really big phone that doesn't make phone calls as opposed to smaller, portable touch screen computers.

The Surface has changed that. While it is running Windows 8 RT, which isn't a full blown version of Windows 8, it is far closer to a "real computer" than any tablet I have used up to now. The Touch Cover is very easy to type on, and I love that it has not only a micro SD slot but a full size USB port as well. Expandable storage capacity via SD, flash drives, and portable storage drives is a must for someone like myself who has a rather healthy collection of DVD rips.

I wasn't really looking for a tablet to fully replace my laptops, but rather something that just works and feels more like an actual computer instead of an over sized phone. But now that I have been using it for a little bit I just might have to save up for the Windows 8 Pro model which is due to be released next month.

Prior to this tablet I mostly used my tablets for watching movies, music videos, and in the case of the Nexus 7, reading ebooks. Now I find myself using this one as my primary internet device as well as most of the other tasks I normally reserved for the laptop as it comes with Office preinstalled. I still have to resort to the laptop for some tasks, but I think eventually tablets with full blown operating systems are going to make bulky laptops obsolete. At least I hope so.

I expect that I will be spending a lot more time with this device than any of my other computing devices.


Comments
on Dec 22, 2012

I'll be monitoring your experience with interest, Mason.  I've read the email setup is awkward/frustrating.  That been the case for you?

Thanks for posting.

on Dec 22, 2012

Actually the email setup was very easy. I have two main accounts that I use and both set up with no issues at all.

I've read a lot of negative stuff on the net about the Surface and the one thing they all seem to have in common is that they were written by Apple fans LOL.